UN Meeting Set On Islamic State Attacks Against Gays

Two gay men from Iraq and Syria will brief the United Nations Security Council August 24 on their experience being targeted by Islamic State militants.

While IS's brutal treatment of religious minorities, women, and other groups has been widely reported, its systematic campaign to exterminate gays has received less attention, the United States and Chile said in a note bringing the issue before the council.

IS has executed gay people by throwing them off high buildings and stoning them to death, posting online visual reports of eight such killings.

U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power and Chile's UN Ambassador Cristian Barros Melet will co-host the meeting, where they will be informally briefed by an Iraqi named Adnan and Syrian Subhi Nahas, both of whom escaped from IS.

"This will be a historic meeting" for the council, the first one to focus on gay issues, said Power.